Orzhov And Other Colors Of Gatecrash

Hello! The first gates were crashed at Prereleases all over the world this past weekend, and the next month looks to be exciting with SCG Open Series in Atlanta and Edison prior to Pro Tour Gatecrash and Grand Prix Charlotte alongside all kinds of SCG IQs, Modern PTQs, and other great tournaments. Gatecrash, I believe, will not significantly impact deeper formats, but there are so many new things for Standard that I don't know which one to try first. I still like Zoo over most of my other ideas, but there are many more cards to try, so today I have two Orzhov and three multicolored green decks for you.

The most interesting of them are cards which are good but look homeless right now, as they need effort to work. Obzedat, Ghost Council is definitely one of them. This card is unfair and possibly belongs to the same league with Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation, but the dead Advisors have a complicated mana cost, especially when we talk about combining it with other good cards. The most obvious example is Obzedat with Geralf's Messenger—they are hard to play together in the same deck, but putting all the good black and white cards together is definitely the thing I want to do.

Spells (11)

Sideboard

I've wanted to combine Restoration Angel with Geralf's Messenger for a long time—even in Modern—and now I can finally do it. These two cards are probably best under five mana in Standard, but Messenger's mana cost is so restrictive that it can't fit anywhere except in a black-heavy deck. The Orzhov cards finally give us two more options for the second color. I don't think that some sort of U/B non-control deck will be playable, but B/W will be fine in many forms, from White Weenie to Mono-Black Control. I think that being more aggressive is the best idea right now.

As for heavier builds, I'm not sure if it's worth trying blue as a third color since I'm not sure if a non-green deck will be good in a format full of Thragtusks and Hellriders. I'd be happy to run a few copies of Sphinx's Revelation alongside Obzedat, but such a greedy combination of UU, WW, and BB is only achievable in a heavy Esper Control list, which I wouldn't build until the new aggressive decks appear and stabilize—and which will probably not run any Orzhov cards besides Obzedat.

A green-based tokens deck would also be a fine option for Orzhov, but, honestly, Gatecrash didn't provide anything but Godless Shrine for that strategy, which isn't crucial for a green-based populate deck. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is better than Obzedat, Ghost Council for the tokens deck because it provides a ton of life against aggressive decks. Last but not least is that token-based decks aren't well positioned now while aggressive decks, which are traditionally weak to Lingering Souls, are now able to cause Illness in the Ranks. So if I'm going Orzhov now, I'd make it clear and free from the other guilds' influences.

A notable new card for Orzhov Midrange is Cartel Aristocrat, who is perfect with Blood Artist and Lingering Souls; Bloodthrone Vampire has proven herself, and the newcomer looks much better due to her ability to deal damage through blockers and sometimes more relevant creature types (Cartel Aristocrat shares the Advisor type with Obzedat, Ghost Council, which could be good for Cavern of Souls). I think that this small Aristocrat would be outclassed by a bigger one (Falkenrath Aristocrat) in Zombies because Hellrider and efficient removal are not things provided by white, but what if we put her in a Humans core?

Lands (22)

Spells (4)

Sideboard

Removal? Who needs removal? This deck is a classic example of White Weenie; there are many cheap efficient creatures, and it's able to beat opponent to death as fast as red decks do. This deck may also be a good home for Ajani, Caller of the Pride because it could produce huge threats and make Ajani's second ability very relevant: giving double strike to evasive creatures (and so being excessive Silverblade Paladins) or evasion to huge ones (Champion of the Parish and soulbonded beaters). Doomed Traveler may be fine addition here due to its synergy with Cartel Aristocrat and its ability to survive Supreme Verdict, but I prefer War Falcon right now.

The main weakness of this list is the same for all Human decks: there is no second one-mana creature to complement the power of Champion of the Parish. Both Doomed Traveler and War Falcon are bearable but not exciting; however, Gatecrash provided a potentially powerful Human in Green. Avacyn's Pilgrim also wasn't spectacular for Weenie decks, but Experiment One would be a big deal. It obviously has many weaknesses—and shares the Champion's fate of being a bad late game topdeck—but Experiment One is basically what Humans wanted. The deck already started the journey to the top tables of SCG Standard Opens, and I expect Experiment and two shocklands will help it even more.

Today's Naya Human decks are relatively high curved with full playsets of Huntmaster of the Fells and Restoration Angel among their creatures, but Experiment One would lead to a lower mana curve as it certainly doesn't want you to spend four mana for a two-power creature. I considered going into Selesnya, but I think that this deck may want to play Boros Charm, even if it's the only red card in the deck. Some red sideboard options are important too, namely Zealous Conscripts (who is a maindeck option in Avacyn's Pilgrim decks) and Huntmaster of the Fells, who is great against other creature-based decks. I expect Ghor-Clan Rampager to oust Huntmaster from heavier decks with mana dorks, but I think that Rancor is better here due to its cheaper cost.

Spells (9)

Sideboard

Huntmaster of the Fells is still one of the most powerful creatures in Standard, even if his best days are in the past. 2/2 isn't a very attractive size, but it could be improved with the help of the freshly printed Master Biomancer.

I'm excited to create a deck for the Biomancer, and Huntmaster may be a fine addition there. However, the mana curve is very high, so I decided to use a good piece of mana acceleration to ensure that spells will be cast on time. Eleven cards may be too much, but Master Biomancer makes late topdecks of mana dorks reasonable and Kessig Wolf Run is a great way to spend excessive mana. The deck is mana-hungry and never wants to skip land drops (which is why Borderland Ranger is necessary).

Spells (11)

Sideboard

The deck's mana curve is still far from ideal, but the best green early creature (Strangleroot Geist) is bad with Master Biomancer, so I decided to put in some early removal. Other solutions are Zameck Guildmage and Skarrg Guildmage, who are capable of improving the deck's late game and being reasonable beaters in the early game. On the other hand, both Guildmages are mana-hungry, so I'd rather build a lower-curve deck around them with more +1/+1 counters and less expensive cards like Prime Speaker Zegana.

Zegana was, by the way, close to Sphinx's Revelation in my first impressions—she also provides cards and the ability to survive until you can win. She is obviously much weaker since she wants you to have board presence and is especially weak against fast aggressive decks where one more blocker means nothing, but she is a powerful beater which would be just unfair with Master Biomancer.

Speaking about a lower-curve aggressive deck for Master Biomancer, I've tried some RUG versions and came to the idea that I need Geist of Saint Traft and thus Bant colors. An early Geist is still deadly in this format, and he is also fine with any evolving creatures due to his 4/4 Angel. Putting a 1UW creature into a green-based deck isn't easy, but the mana worked just fine for me, so I'm happy to present an update of last week's Bant Zoo deck. Unfortunately, Silverblade Paladin is hard to cast, so I was forced to cut it down to two copies despite having Cavern of Souls as a mana fixer. Experiment One proved itself great with such a selection of four-power and four-toughness creatures, so I cut Arbor Elf and never looked back.

That's all for today. Don't forget to participate in SCG Open Series: Atlanta or to tune to its coverage this weekend—all sorts of fine new brews are waiting to prove themselves and make Gatecrash Standard even more interesting and diverse than its predecessor was.

I am Izzet. When I saw the guilds for the first time, I was 146% sure that I was Izzet. My job is a research engineer, so it's predicable that I associate myself with the Guild of Engineers.
The
Izzet in me is Curiosity. Everything I do is because of Curiosity. I just want to know everything – for my own pleasure, not for my own purpose.
Whenever Dracogenius needs an investigator, he can count on me.

About Valeriy Shunkov

Valeriy Shunkov is a 26 year-old research engineer from Moscow, Russia. Since starting out with Shards of Alara, he's used Magic to "play the game, see the world." He is the winner of the SCG Talent Search and has a new article every Monday.